Regulating apparatus for engines.



G. H. SMOOT.

BEGULATING APPARATUS FOR ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 11,1909.

" 971,088. Patented Sept. 27,1910.

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CHARLES H. SMOOT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

REGULATING APPARATUS FOR ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 27, 1910.

Application filed February 11, 1909. Serial No. 477,468.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. SMOOT, a citizen of the United States,residing in New York, county of New York, and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Regulating Apparatus forEngines, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, formingpart of this specification.

My invention relates to engines employing fluids at different pressuresderived from different sources. One source may be exhaust steam, theother source may be a source of steam of higher pressure, as boilersteam. This second source could be employed to supplement the lowerpressure steam in order that the deficiency thereof, which may vary, maybe supplied.

My invention has as its object the governing mechanism and valves bymeans of which the admission of steam from two different sources atdifferent pressures is admitted to the engine and will be found ofparticular service in that class of power producing mechanism wheresteam is admitted at low pressure and also at high pressure to the powerproducing mechanism when the conditions are such that it is desirable touse always the steam of low pressure in preference to the steam of highpressure.

By means of my invention the engine may operate continuously and use allof the steam from the low pressure source, which supply may be variablein extent, making up any deficiency in steam with that which is takenfrom the source at high pressure.

My invention, broadly, has as object the selection of the source ofsteam supply, by means of the fluctuation of pressure in one of thesources of steam supply. I therefore do not wish to be limited to theuse of the lower source of pressure as means of controlling theapparatus selecting automatically the source of operating fluid, theobject of my invention being to "use the Variations of pressure of oneof the sources of steam supply to operate a controlling device actingupon valves controlling the admission of steam to the engine from one orthe other source or from both simultaneously.

In the preferred embodiment of my in vention a piston or diaphragmmechanism is supplied with steam from the low pres sure source, saidpiston or diaphragm mechanism operating to close a valve in the lowpressure source and open a valve in the high pressure source when thepressure of the low pressure source falls below a definite predeterminedvalue.

In practicing my invention I employ two valves at each source of steamsupply, therefore four valves, as the power produc ing machine receivessteam from two difierent sources of steam supply at differentpressures.

The two valves controlled by the speed overnor open together and closetogether. hen the speed increases, they have a ten(l ency to close, andwhen the speed diminishes, they have a tendency to open.

The two pressure controlled valves ope ateas follows: \Vhen the lowpressure steam supply diminishes, means are provided to close the lowpressure source and to open the high pressure source. In other words,the speed controlled valves open and close together, and the pressurecontrolled valves are acted upon by means governed by the low pressuresteam supply in such a way that when one closesthe other opens. I do notwish to be limited to a piston or diaphragm mechanism, however, as ameans of operating the pressure controlled valves. Any suitable deviceoperated by the steam pressure of one of the steam sources andcontrolling the pressure controlled valves is within the scope of myinvention.

The select-ion of the lower pressure source of fluid to operate thepressure controlled valves is arbitrary, although in practice the lowersource of pressure is generally to be expected the more probable to varyand to be employed as the regulating agency.

I will explain my invention more fully by reference to the accompanyingdrawing, showing one application and embodiment of the invention.

In this drawing the power producing engine, preferably the turbine, isrepresented by the rectangle T A is a speed governor directly geared tothe turbine shaft by bevel gears B C is a bell crank lever, by means ofwhich the motion of the governor is transmitted to connecting rod D,which rod is connected to the valve E in the high pressure supply pipe Pand also connected by means of the right and left hand thread nut F tothe rod Q The gov- 011101" motion is further transmitted to the valve G,located in the low pressure supply pipe O These valves E and G are actedon in a like manner by the governor (2'. 0., an increase in speed causesthe governor to exert a closing action on both the high and loW pressurevalves). The speed of the turbine T is controlled e11- tirely by thespeed governor, regardless of whether the turbine is being driven by thesteam taken from the source at high pressure or the source at lowpressure or from both sources simultaneously. The selective apparatuswhich determines whether the turbine shall run on high or low pressuresteam or simultaneously on both sources of steam consists of the valve Hlocated in the high pressure pipe P and the valve J located in the lowpressure pipe O These valves are connected together by the connectingrod 1 and are further connected by the rod K to the piston mechanism L,of which mechanism M is the piston.

N is a duct which connects the piston L to the low pressure supply pipeO R is a pipe connecting from the other side of the piston H toatmosphere or some other source of constant fluid pressure. By means ofthis mechanism it will be seen that if the pressure in the pipe O isless than the pressure supplied from pipe 11 the piston M will bedisplaced, exerting a closing action on valve J and an opening action011 valve H. Thus when the pressure in pipe O is not a predeterminedvalue, the valve J interposes a resistance to the fluid flow in pipe Ochecking its passage to the turbine and permitting the passage of fluidfrom pipe P to the turbine. Im'ersely, when the pressure in pipe exceedsthe pressure in pipe R the piston M is displaced in a reverse direction,thus exerting an opening action on valve J and a closing action on valveH, in consequence of which the passage of low pressure steam throughpipe 0 to the turbine is facilitated and the passage of high pressuresteam from pipe P to the turbine is retarded so that the turbine willconsume more low pressure steam and less high pressure steam inconsequence of an increase of pressure in pipe O I do not wish to belimited in the scope of this invention by the means employed within theturbine to use the steam from different sources. There are variousmethods by which this can be done, which methods are well known to thoseskilled in the art. For example, steam from the two different sources ofpressure may be united at one pressure within the turbine casing and dotheir useful work in expanding from this pressure down to the pressureof the condenser, or the steam from the high pressure source may beadmitted through special nozzles and expanded down to the pressure ofthe steam from the low pressure source, this expansion being used todrive the turbine.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

In a power producing engine operated by steam from sources at differentpressures, valves located in the high pressure steam channel and in thelower pressure steam channel and piston mechanism operated by steamsupplied by the lower pressure source of steam and having a closingaction on the lower pressure valve when the lower pres sure steam sourcehas a tendency to diminish and simultaneously an opening action on thehigh pressure valve and two valves located in the high and in the lowpressure channel opening and closing together under the control of aspeed gov ernor.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this fifth day ofFebruary A. 13., 1909.

CHARLES H. SMOOT.

Witnesses:

F. V. YATES, C. S. Bnooxs.

